


How to Become Friends with a Reporter and an Alien

by ThirteenthMouse6572



Series: The Adventures of Peter Benjamin Parker and His Many, Many Family Members [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Aliens, Friendship, Gen, don't know how to tag this fic lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 08:04:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19741567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirteenthMouse6572/pseuds/ThirteenthMouse6572
Summary: Who knew being friends with a reporter/alien combination would be such a good idea? Well, Peter had stranger friends.





	How to Become Friends with a Reporter and an Alien

**Author's Note:**

> @ marvel and sony please let eddie/venom and peter interact. they're both chaotic bisexuals they deserve it

It was practically impossible for Eddie Brock _not_ to know about Spider-Man. The number of comments, tweets, and messages he receives about getting an interview with Spider-Man was crazy. Not to mention that Venom decided to take quite a liking to the guy for some reason or another.

**Eddie.** Speak of the devil and he will come.

“What is it, V?” Eddie asked, taking another chunk out of the churro (chocolate covered, at Venom’s insistence) in his hand. “If you’re going to go on another rant about–”

**Spider-Man.** Eddie sighed.

“V, you talked about him yesterday when we saw the news. I can’t believe you still have more to say,” Eddie commented. Not like he was going to stop Venom from ranting about the arachnid. Not like he really _could_.

**No, Eddie. Spider-Man.** Venom insisted. Eddie felt Venom trying to make him look around, and relented. He nearly choked on his final mouthful of churro as he spotted the familiar red outfit in an alleyway. **Help.**

Eddie made sure he wasn’t going to be run over by any cars before half-jogging across the road and into the alleyway. “You’d probably never stop pestering me if I didn’t help, wouldn’t you V?” Venom didn’t reply, but Eddie got a mental image of Venom nodding.

Spider-Man looked relatively okay if you completely ignored the metallic smell of blood. Eddie was half expecting Venom to comment on the smell, but the symbiote was just concerned. Eddie could see the black of Venom trailing down his arm and to his hand. “V, you can’t come out now. What if he wakes up?” Eddie said, slightly worried someone might walk past. “Then he’ll get freaked out and probably try to fight you. You don’t want to fight Spider-Man, right?”

Venom receded. **No. Let’s take him home.**

“What?” Eddie asked incredulously. “Wouldn’t it be a bit weird to see a random guy carrying a bloody Spider-Man to his apartment?” 

**We do not think so**. Of course he doesn’t.

Eddie sighed. He couldn’t just leave Spider-Man here, because someone might find him. But he couldn’t just bring him home, because someone might find him. Venom pushed towards bringing him home. 

So there Eddie was, holding Spider-Man in his arms and looking around frantically the whole walk home to make sure nobody saw him. Fortunately, he made it to his apartment without incident and set the arachnid down on his couch. 

**Blood. There is blood** , Eddie, Venom oh-so-helpfully pointed out.

Eddie looked down at his arms, which were also covered in the sticky substance. “Yeah, V, I know.” He washed the blood off in the kitchen sink and looked up to meet the face of Venom. “I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned anything about eating him,” Eddie joked, drying his arms with paper-towel.

**Spider-Man is a friend** , Venom said. **We like him. We will not eat a friend, that is why we have not eaten you.**

Eddie breathed out humorously. “I thought it was because we were too compatible for you to bother finding someone else?” 

**That too** , Venom corrected himself.

Eddie heard Spider-Man groan and, thankfully, Venom decided to hide back in Eddie’s body (around his spine and heart, Eddie found was his favourite place to be). He turned around and saw the hero sitting up and muttering to himself, looking around. “Glad to see you’re awake,” Eddie commented, making the arachnid jump and turn his head to face Eddie. “Is the blood on your suit yours? I didn’t see a rip.” 

It’s amazing that Eddie wasn’t freaking out right now. “Who are you?” Spider-Man asked, his arm out. “Wait, wait, are you Eddie Brock? From the Brock Report?” Okay, Eddie was now freaking out. 

“You know me?” Eddie asked, pointing to himself. “That’s really weird, man.”

**Does he know us?** Venom asked.

Spider-Man nodded. “Yeah, um, Mr Stark and I watch your show when it comes on.” Does Tony Stark watch his show? Oh God. “W-what am I doing here? How did I get here?”

**Can we come out, Eddie?**

“No,” Eddie whispered to himself. “Um, we- uh, I carried you here. You were in an alleyway and there was blood over your suit. Are you okay, by the way?”

Spider-Man patted the space where the blood was on his suit before nodding. “Yeah, probably just a bruise,” he said. “I should probably get going before my d- _someone_ realises I’ve been missing.”

Eddie could feel the disappointment radiating off Venom and sighed. “Can I offer you something to eat, first? You must need energy before swinging off to wherever it is you’re going,” he said, trying to stave off Venom’s oncoming sulk-fest.

**We do _not_ sulk!** Venom protested.

Spider-Man nodded. “Yeah, that’d… that’d be great Mr Brock, thanks.” _God, how young was this guy?_

Eddie nodded and turned to the fridge, trying to find something he could feasibly offer to Spider-Man. “You kinda do sulk, V,” Eddie whispered.

**No!** Eddie chuckled to himself lightly. 

“I’m only kidding, love. Which of these do you want to give to Spider-Man?”

**That one.** Eddie grabbed the chocolate bar out of the fridge, examining it and wondering if _he_ wanted to give it up.

“Who are you talking to?” Spider-Man asked, making Eddie jump and spin around.

Many thoughts ran through Eddie’s head. He couldn’t just _tell_ Spider-Man that he was talking to the alien symbiote in his head, because it took even Anne and Dan a while to get used to Venom. “Um…” Eddie trailed off. “Myself?” 

Fucking. A. Plus. Recovery. 

**You’re a loser, Eddie.**

Spider-Man’s eyes narrowed. The way they squinted looked sort of like Venom’s eyes when he was disappointed in some dumb joke Eddie made. “Who are you _really_ talking to?” Oh, great. Now Spider-Man was suspicious. 

“We- I can’t exactly tell you who I’m talking to because–” Eddie cut himself off, feeling Venom materialising behind him and sighing as Spider-Man’s eyes widened. “Okay, never mind. Please don’t shoot a web at him! He’ll just get annoyed and we don’t want to deal with that, thanks.”

“Who the heck are you?” _Seriously, how young was this kid?_

“I’m Eddie Brock, this is my… symbiote,” Eddie said.

**“We’re Venom.”**

“This is Venom.”

Spider-Man was silent, staring at Venom and Eddie in shock. “I- what the hell? Is that an alien?” Eddie nodded. It was silent for a long time and Eddie was afraid Spider-Man was going to run. What he did, however, was not what Eddie was expecting. “That’s so cool!” Spider-Man yelled.

Eddie was taken aback. “W-what?” 

**“We are cool.”** Venom was _way_ too pleased with himself.

For a solid minute afterwards, Spider-Man hammered Eddie with questions, giving Eddie practically no time between the questions for an answer of any sort. Eventually, he seemed to run out of questions to ask and sat back down on the couch from his excited pacing.

“Done?” Eddie asked, slightly amused. He could feel Venom thrumming with amusement and excitement. Spider-Man nodded. “I can’t answer all those questions right now, since it’s getting quite late.” Eddie looked to the flashing green clock on the microwave, which read ‘9:42 pm.’ “Shouldn’t you be getting back to wherever you come from?”

Spider-Man’s eyes widened, and he cursed under his breath. “Uh, I don’t think Mr Stark will be too happy if I go swinging all the way back to Queens right now. Do you know anywhere that I could stay, like a motel or somewhere cheap?”

Eddie knew a number of motels that were cheap, but nowhere he trusted not to hurt the boy behind the mask. **He could stay here, Eddie.** That wasn’t a bad idea. Eddie didn’t have any spare rooms, though. Didn’t really have guests over often. **The couch, Eddie.** Oh, yeah.

“You could stay here,” Eddie relayed to Spider-Man. “I-if you want to. We-we don’t mind.”

“Really? That wouldn’t be too much of a bother?” Spider-Man asked. “I can stay in a motel or even just a space between buildings.”

“Kid.” Eddie didn’t want to sit through another minute of ranting, although he found it slightly endearing. “You can stay. As long as you’re good with sleeping on the couch.”

Spider-Man nodded. “That’s okay Mr Brock! I usually end up sleeping on a couch in Mr Stark’s lab anyway, so I’m used to it!” That was slightly concerning, but Eddie knew what it was like to pass out on a couch after working.

**Eddie. The chocolate is melting.** Eddie looked down at the softening chocolate bar in his hands and threw it back into the fridge. Eddie ran a hand through his hair, not quite sure what to do. **Eddie. We’re hungry.**

“Well, make yourself comfortable I suppose. V and I are… going out for a bit. We’ll be back soon. Uh, help yourself to food, but don’t eat the chocolate chips in the fridge or the tater tots in the freezer. Venom might like you, but we don’t like anyone eating our food.” Spider-Man nodded, and Eddie turned towards the door, ignoring Venom’s protests that the window was much more efficient.

-[]-

Peter watched Mr Brock leave, muttering to himself (or to Venom, he didn’t know). “Incoming call from Tony Stark,” Karen informed him, almost right as the door closed. Perfect timing.

“Yeah, answer it,” Peter replied, sitting down on the couch.

Mr Stark’s image came through on his interface, a facial expression of ‘trying not to look worried but not succeeding too much.’ “Peter, where are you? FRIDAY tells me you’re somewhere in San Francisco. Why are you there?"

Peter explained that he was fighting some guys with guns that definitely weren’t from Earth. Luckily – he interrupted Tony’s ‘Worried Dad Rant’ before it even started – he webbed them all up and left them to the police. He conveniently forgot to mention that he was hit by one of the alien guns, but that wasn’t important. Karen even said that it didn’t hit anything important, so it was fine.

“Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?” Tony asked.

Peter nodded, despite the fact that Tony couldn’t see him. “Yeah, Mr Stark. I, uh, I’m at a friend’s house. I’ll be back tomorrow, promise.” It was silent on Tony’s end of the call, and Peter started fidgeting with the pillow beside him.

“Who is this friend?” _Dammit, he couldn’t just say that it was Eddie Brock._

“Uh, Eddie Brock.” _Wow, well done Parker. You’re officially an idiot._

“Wait, Eddie Brock? As in that guy from the Life Foundation dilemma?” Tony sounded not-very-happy. “Why are you at his house? Are you there as Spider-Man or Peter?”

Peter cut him off before any more questions could tumble from the billionaire’s mouth. “Yes, Mr Stark, it’s that Eddie Brock. I’m at his house because… um… IkindagotshotandwasbleedingbutI’mfinenow.” Hopefully Tony just ignored that last part.

“You what!” Okay, didn’t ignore that. “Why didn’t you tell me! I am coming over right now, young man. And you are coming home.” 

Peter’s mind raced. He didn’t just want to leave, he had so many questions for Mr Brock! “No! No, I’m fine! It wasn’t too bad, and it didn’t even hit anything! Mr Brock says I can stay here overnight, and I’ll come back in the morning!” Peter explained frantically. He really didn’t mind sleeping on the couch he was sitting on, it smelled like chocolate faintly.

Tony sighed and Peter imagined him pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. You can stay, but come home as soon as you can,” Tony sounded begrudging to let Peter stay, but Peter wasn’t too worried. Mr Brock and Venom don’t even know who he is.

“Thanks Mr Stark! I’ll be home as soon as I can!” Peter hung up just as he could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. He tried to sit as casually on the couch as he could as the door opened, and Eddie stumbled through.

He looked at Peter and nodded. “Hi, glad to see you’re still here.” The rate at which Eddie opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and subsequently downed the entire thing without taking a breath was slightly terrifying to Peter.

“Yeah, you weren’t gone very long,” Peter pointed out.

Eddie nodded and Peter noticed the black scarf around his neck that hadn’t been there before he left, and was _definitely_ moving. “Yeah, found what we were looking for pretty quickly,” he said, sounding slightly suspicious. The ‘scarf’ around his neck rippled and Eddie shook his head. “We’re not telling him what we were looking for.” Clearly Eddie was whispering, but it was pretty quiet in the apartment that Peter barely needed his enhanced hearing.

Peter looked around the room, looking for a clock. “Hey, Mr Brock? What time is it?”

Eddie pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Nearly 10. I’ll be working for a bit, but you can crash whenever you want. You were bleeding quite a bit, and I know that you have that freaky fast-heal thing, but I also know it feels like shit to get shot or stabbed or whatever happened to you.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, Mr Stark might kill me if I don’t get home in time so I should probably wake up early,” he agreed. “Thanks for letting me stay, Mr Brock.” 

Eddie shook his head. “Call me Eddie.” 

“Mr Brock.” 

“Eddie.”

“…Mr Brock.” 

Eddie sighed and shook his head. “You should go to sleep, kid. We might see you if V wakes me up when he’s craving chocolate in the morning.”

“Okay, Mr Brock!” Peter said slightly too enthusiastically. Eddie nodded and smiled slightly, waving as he disappeared into what Peter assumed was his bedroom. He could hear Eddie talking to Venom (Peter assumed), but tuned it out in favour of collapsing down on the couch.

As he fell asleep, Peter wondered how Tony would react if Peter told him he stayed with a guy sharing a body with an alien.

-[]-

“Spider-Man! How are you and Barton handling civilians?” Dr Strange asked over the comms.

Peter surveyed the area, not seeing anyone in the path of destruction and relaying the information back. “Peter, there is somebody exiting the alleyway to your right,” Karen told him. Peter nodded in response and swung to the person he could see running out. He picked them up as he swung by, and was met by a yelp of surprise. 

“Don’t worry–” Peter cut himself off as he realised who was clinging to him. “Karen, mute me please.” Karen confirmed the muting, giving Peter free reign to shout, “Mr Brock? What are you doing here?” 

Eddie looked relieved to find it was Peter carrying him. “Oh! Spider-Man!” A black tendril emerged from Eddie’s back and waved. Peter dropped onto the roof of a nearby building. He surveyed the area and saw the alien elephant thing slowly making its way towards his location.

Peter turned back to Eddie and noticed that he had seen the alien as well. “Why are you here? You should be evacuated like everyone else!" 

**“They’re tasty.”** Venom emerged from Eddie’s shoulders, and grinned (Peter thought, he couldn’t tell) at Peter. “ **We’ve been to their planet before.”**

“What? You’ve been to space?” Peter yelled. “That’s so cool! I want to go to space!”

Eddie shook his head. “I haven’t been to space, but V has. He literally comes from space, I suppose. And shouldn’t you be dealing with that thing? We can come help soon, just not with people around in the beginning.”

**“Unless Spider wants to surprise them,”** Venom added. Peter nodded excitedly while Eddie sighed.

“Yeah, why not?” Eddie said. “How strong are you?” he asked Peter. “Can you fling me at that thing?”

Peter narrowed his eyes. “I picked you guys off the ground and swung you here. I can throw you.” Eddie and Venom grinned together, and Peter found it both cool and slightly terrifying at the same time.

“Spider-Man! Where are you?” Tony’s voice came through the comms. Peter wrapped an arm around Eddie’s waist as he took off towards the elephant thing again.

“Karen, unmute me please,” Peter asked. “I’m okay Mr Stark! Just trying to get a civilian out of a nearby building. Didn’t want to go, but I’m heading over now.” He swung with Eddie until they were close enough that Peter could see the magic, blasts, and arrows soaring. He looked to Eddie, who nodded.

“Heads up guys!” Peter yelled, throwing Eddie towards the alien with some pretty good accuracy if he said so himself. Tony started to ask what he meant before he interrupted himself with a few curses.

Peter watched in amazement as a black goo covered Eddie’s body, entirely covering him as he landed on the alien. He turned around, letting Peter see the white eyes on the definitely-not-human creature that Eddie turned into.

“What the hell is that thing!” Barton yelled. Peter watched as he shot an arrow towards the goop-covered Eddie, whose arm grew to form a shield and deflected the arrow. “What do we aim for!”

Eddie looked towards Peter, who landed on a building to get a closer look. Peter realised what – or _who_ , rather – was covering Eddie. “Holy shit,” Peter whispered. Venom grinned and turned towards the head of the alien, which was crying loudly and swinging its ‘trunks’ in what seemed to be an attempt to get Venom off.

“Peter! Get away from there!” Tony yelled. “We don’t know what that thing is!”

Peter swung towards another building, getting a higher vantage point to watch Venom start to claw at one of the trunks of the alien, finally ripping it off and throwing it aside. “Wait!” Dr Strange called. “I believe it is helping us.”

“What? Its destroying that thing, it’d have no problem coming after us!” Tony protested. “I vote we kill it before it kills us!”

Venom turned towards where Tony had landed on a building and glared. He went back to the alien; whose crying was quieter than before. The second trunk was flying through the air at Tony before Peter could even process it. The elephant was quiet, and the only sound in the city was the reverberation of its footsteps. Peter watched as Venom’s jaw unhinged like a snake’s and bit into the neck of the alien.

“Holy fuck.” Nobody even called Peter out for swearing. Peter had to jump out of the way of the dust and debris as the alien fell, taking Venom with it. It was silent for a moment, before Venom came crawling out from under the now-dead alien, chewing on something that Peter didn’t really want to think about.

He looked up at where Tony and Dr Strange were in the air, then to Barton perched on the balcony of a nearby apartment building, and finally to Peter. As Peter made eye contact with Venom, the alien grinned and leaned down to eat a chunk out of his fallen ‘prey’. _That’s sort of disgusting,_ Peter thought to himself. Tony made a fake gagging sound. 

Venom, with the piece of meat in his mouth, jumped away and took off down the road. “Are we just going to let him go?” Clint asked as nobody moved.

“It did help us,” Dr Strange commented. “At least we know it exists.”

A message came through in Peter’s display. It was from Eddie.

_remind me to not let V eat those things. terrible aftertaste. i feel like i just drank five gallons of soap._

Who knew being friends with a reporter/alien combination would be such a good idea? Well, Peter had stranger friends.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
